"In my series Weird Sports, I explore the joy and community surrounding people’s love of nontraditional sports. They include surreal competitions like: Big Wheel racing, barstool skiing, log riding, lightsaber fencing, and live monster wrestling.
Many of these events are more performance art than competitive sport, a celebration where a participation trophy is the ultimate medal of excellence. All weird sports aim to achieve the same goal: bring together like-minded, creative, and active humans, often in costume and usually with cheap beer in hand.
As it so happens, the final photo in this 15-year-old photo collection—of a weird beer tossing competition in Wyoming—was taken on March 11, 2020, right at the very start of the pandemic, creating an unintentional time capsule of life and laughter before the world came to a halt.
Growing up without a father, who died when I was 2, sports always had a huge role in my life. If I could play and talk sports, I could connect with kids in the neighborhood. To a deeper degree, this project on weird sports allows me to witness—and document—the joy I always imagined I’d have with my father if he was still alive, whether going to a Cubs game or playing catch in the backyard.
I’ve always yearned for that connection and joy, something this body of work strives to celebrate." – Sol Neelman
Image: © Sol Neelman
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